July 24-26, 2020

Brendan Bernhardt Gaffney

Post-and-Rung Chair

$575 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Description:

In this three-day class, students will make a greenwood one-slat chair with twelve rungs and four posts. This chair is a great first chair for any aspiring chair makers, and an introduction to post-and-rung chair construction. Each student will start with rough parts, then mortise, shave and join them into simple straight-back chairs that will last a lifetime. We’ll also cover simple seat weaving at the end of the last day, with the goal of sending every student home with a chair ready for “settin’.”

This chair represents nearly every step in the more complicated ladderback chair designs but leaves out the steam bending in the interest of abbreviating and condensing the project to a three-day class. The design can be made at the workbench or on a shave horse with kiln-dried, air-dried or freshly-rived wood. Students will be provided with green wood for the class.

Topics covered in this class will range from beginning green woodworking, working at a shave horse with a drawknife and spokeshave, traditional handwork, chair geometry, simplified shaker tape seat weaving and chair finishing. The simple tools in this class will leave every student prepared to move forward with post-and-rung chairmaking and an understanding of the techniques and tricks that go into making a durable, comfortable place to sit.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

See more of Brendan’s work:

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July 13-17, 2020

Michael Puryear

Wooden Tools:  Making a Jack Plane and Mallet

$1,150 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Description:

Wooden Tools: Making a Jack Plane and Mallet

Tools are an extension of the body which enable us to make physical our ideas. This class is an opportunity to learn to use woodworking tools as well as to make two useful tools commonly used in woodwork: a mallet and Jack plane.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

Tool List:

Low angle, adjustable throat block plane,

Bevel edge bench chisels,

Try Square

See more of Michael’s work:

   Website

June 20 & 21, 2020

Cathryn Peters

Paper Fibre Rush or Cattail Leaf Rush Seat Weaving

$350* (cost covers instruction and lunch)

*materials extra – discussed and determined with Cathryn

Description:

In this two-day course you will learn how to weave the rush seat design pattern that forms four distinct triangular shapes meeting in the center. You’ve probably seen these before on Colonial ladder-back chair seats and other post and rail chairs.

Students will have their choice of weaving materials of either paper fibre rush or natural cattail leaf rush. Weaving with cattail leaves is for those that want period authenticity and want to try the challenging technique of hand-twisting individual cattail leaves to make your own rope-like weavers. Paper fibre rush is an easier to use, man-made, continuous strand product of rolled paper rope. It was invented in 1904, and made to resemble natural bulrush or cattail leaves.

The instructor will show you the tricks of the trade, using both materials, to speed and improve your weaving process. Standing for extended periods and moderate hand strength are needed for this weaving technique and there are repetitive hand movements with rush weaving.

Students are encouraged to bring their own post and rail chair frame, but must consult with instructor immediately on registration to make sure chair is appropriate for class. And by prior arrangement, also at time of registration, there are a limited amount of vintage chair frames that can be purchased from the instructor.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

Tool List:

Towel, scissors, measuring tape, pencil, notepad, spray bottle, 2-large spring clamps

See more of Cathryn’s work:

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June 15-19, 2020

Nancy Hiller

Voysey Two-Heart Chair

$1,250 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Class Description:

The Voysey two heart chair is based on an 1898 design by English architect C.F.A. Voysey, one of the Arts and Crafts movement’s most highly respected designers. The course instructor, Nancy Hiller, measured one of the original chairs at the Cheltenham Museum as part of the research for her book on English Arts & Crafts Furniture, published by Popular Woodworking Books in 2018.

Ideal for beginners and intermediate woodworkers, also suitable for those with advanced skills because it is a handsome chair that’s comfortable to sit in and has a fascinating history that we’ll discuss as we build.

Joinery is mortise and tenon. Also involves making a seat frame for weaving. Subtle details of shaping the legs and back, introduction to design and fabrication of a removable seat.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

Tool List:

Smoothing plane

5/16” chisel

Wooden mallet

Square

Tenon saw

Mortise gauge

Jigsaw (optional)

Coping saw

Files and rasps

Spokeshave

See more of Nancy’s work:

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June 1-5, 2020

Megan Fitzpatrick

Anarchist’s Tool Chest

$1,450 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Course Description:

In five days, we are going to build traditional full-size English tool chests – a.k.a. “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” from Christopher Schwarz’s book of that title – using (mostly) hand tools.

If you don’t like dovetails, this is not the class for you. If you’d like to learn dovetails (while you build a sturdy chest that holds about 50 hand tools…which is to say almost all the hand tools you need to build furniture), this is absolutely the class for you – you’ll get plenty of instruction and practice. We’ll start at the back, so by the time you get to the joints on the front, you’ll be an expert!

Plus, we’ll make handsome and (almost) bomb-proof raised-panel lids, and cut the moldings, skirts and lids by hand. Though we will have time to build only the outside of the chest, I’ll discuss how to divide up the interior for efficient work and show you some options.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

ATC Tool List (the ones you need to build it – not all the stuff you’d want to put in it…)

· Smoothing plane

· Jack plane

· Marking or cutting gauge

· Marking knife

· .05 or .03 mechanical pencil

· Dividers (2 pair if you’ve got ‘em)

· 12” combo square

· Dovetail marking gauge or sliding bevel

· Dovetail saw

· Chisels ½”, 3/8” and ¼”

· Mallet

· Medium or large shoulder plane

· Hammer and nail set

· Coping saw with extra blades (I recommend Pegas blades)

· 3/16” Beading plane (I’m happy to share mine – don’t worry if you don’t have this tool)

· Ear plugs (it gets pretty loud with lots of people chopping!)

And any other tools you just can’t bear to be without. For me, that includes my waterstones and honing guide, a 6” adjustable square, a double square (a.k.a. diemaker’s square or machinist’s square), a block plane and multiple pencils.

See more of Megan’s work:

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May 10-16, 2020

Peter Galbert

Fan Back or Balloon Back Windsor Chair

$1650 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Description:

This 7-day side chair class covers the Balloon Back and Fan Back side chairs, both from my book “Chairmaker’s Notebook”. We plan to use bobbin turnings for this class.

Windsor chair making is a physical endeavor.  In this class we will knock the spindles and back pieces out of a log before shaving them on a shaving horse.  We will sculpt a seat by carving the form into the wood blank.  Students will make and then steam bend the back – either the hoop for the balloon back chair or the shapely crest rail on the fan back.  We will layout and drill the site angles for the upper and lower assemblies.  And then we’ll put it all together to create the chair.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.

See more of Peter’s work:

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April 20-25, 2020

Kelly Mehler

Shaker-Inspired Two Drawer Table

$1,300 (total cost including instruction and materials)

Course Description:

This Shaker-inspired table has a multitude of uses waiting to be found! This piece pairs nicely with many types of decor where its classic simplicity and enduring clean lines create visual harmony.

Kelly originally built a variation of this two-drawer white pine table for a customer in 1995. The table was based on the original piece from the Alfred Shaker community in Maine, now part of a Shaker collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The original was built between 1850 and 1900 of white pine. You will have some wood choices that suit your needs and preferences.

The design of the table is clearly straightforward, and so are the broadly-applicable techniques used in the construction of your table. You will create square, tapered legs that are mortised to receive tenons on the ends of the rails. The aprons are pinned to ensure joint security. You will learn how to fit drawers with hand-cut dovetails and with solid bottoms and thumb moulding on their front edges. You will use a combination of hand tools and machine tools to fashion the unusual curve where the square part of the leg begins to taper. The techniques that you will use throughout this project will assist you in making other tables and case good pieces in your own shop.

So now let’s have some fun as you join Kelly in building this well-designed table.

Materials: cherry.  Kits will be prepared and ready for students on the first day of class.

A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.